The invention relates to a cleaning substrate for cleaning and regenerating a mold, and more particularly, to a cleaning substrate for cleaning a mold of a semiconductor package that can save the amount of the usage of the cleaning compound without changing the facilities of the original fabrication process.
During the encapsulating process by making use of the mold for molding the encapsulant of thermosetting resin, the mold releasing agent contained in the encapsulant of thermosetting resin can seep into the inner surface of the mold in order to release the mold. However, the mold-releasing characteristic of the molding parts will be deteriorated and the molding parts will be damaged cosmetically resulting from the continuously repeating the encapsulating process. Consequently, the material layer is contaminated and the mold releasing agent become less effective.
To resolve the above-mentioned problems, cleaning work must be undertaken to remove the contaminated material layer that makes the mold-releasing agent ineffective. For example, an encapsulant made of thermosetting melamine resin is put in the mold so as to make the contaminated material, which is positioned on the inner surface of the mold, integrally form and solidify in order to be removed, thereby, the inner surface of the mold is cleaned.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 disclose a conventional semiconductor mold. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the semiconductor mold 10 has a pot 11 for storing encapsulant. The pot 11 is connected to a mold cavity 14 through a runner 12 and a gate 13 where the mold cavity 14 is employed for placing semiconductor chip (not shown). When packaging a semiconductor chip, a plunger 15 is employed to press downward so as to compress the encapsulant that is liquidized to flow through the runner 12 and the gate 13, and then fill the mold cavity 14 so as to encapsulate the semiconductor chip. Thereafter, the mold 10 is opened and the molded products are taken out after the encapsulant material is hardened.
However, after the above-mentioned steps are continuously performed, a contaminated material layer is generated on the inner surface of the mold 10. Especially, the contaminated material layer on the inner surface of the mold cavity 14 will cosmetically damage the molded products. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the contaminated material layer of the mold 10. As shown in FIG. 2, when cleaning the mold 10, a cleaning substrate 20 is put into the mold 10, and a cleaning compound is injected into the mold cavity 14. As the cleaning compound is solidified, it will integrally form with the contaminated material layer on the inner surface of the mold cavity 14 and the cleaning substrate to become a plastic mold which is then taken out of the mold cavity 14. The inner surface of the mold will be entirely cleaned after repeating the above-mentioned action for around 10 to 15 times.
It is noted that the cleaning substrate 20 is generally designed in the shape of a plate that can not effectively reduce the volume of the mold cavity 14 such that it takes several times for mold injecting to fill the mold cavity 14 of the mold 10. As a result, it unnecessarily wastes the material of the cleaning compound.
In the light of the above-mentioned disadvantages, it is necessary to provide a cleaning substrate for cleaning the mold of the semiconductor package that can save the amount of the usage of the cleaning compound without changing the facilities of the original fabrication process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning substrate for cleaning the mold of the semiconductor package that can save the amount of the usage of the cleaning compound.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning substrate for cleaning and regenerating a mold. A protrusion provided on the substrate can substantially match with and be contained within the edges of a mold cavity of the mold when the cleaning substrate is placed in the mold while the mold is contaminated after repeatedly packaging the semiconductor device.
In another aspect of the cleaning substrate according to the present invention, the profile of the protrusion is corresponding to the edges of the mold cavity.
In one other aspect of the cleaning substrate according to the present invention, the cleaning substrate is made of paper.
In addition, a cleaning method provided by the present invention for cleaning a mold includes the following steps:
(a) providing a mold having at least a mold cavity;
(b) placing a cleaning substrate in the mold cavity wherein the cleaning substrate has at least a first protrusion that can substantially match and be contained within the edges of the mold cavity;
(c) injecting a cleaning compound into the mold cavity of the mold;
(d) hardening the cleaning compound such that the cleaning compound is integrally formed with the cleaning substrate to become a molding product; and
(e) taking the molding product out of the mold cavity by opening the mold.
According to the cleaning substrate of the present invention for cleaning semiconductor package, when cleaning the mold, a cleaning substrate is put into the mold. The multiplicity of protrusions of the cleaning substrate can be substantially contained within the edges of the multiplicity of mold cavities of the mold. Then, a cleaning compound is injected into the mold cavity. The cleaning substrate can reduce the amount of usage for mold injection since the protrusions are provided on the cleaning substrate to reduce the volume of the cavity.